Standard from the Past

The first black devotion deck that abused the capabilities our Merchant was built, as expected, just as the set was released, as showcased in Kentarou Yamamoto’s Top 8 decklist from Pro Tour Theros in Dublin:

Together with other amazing creatures such as 《Desecration Demon》 and 《Lifebane Zombie》 (both of which provide two extra devotion to the table), efficient disruption spells, and some phenomenal card advantage engines in the form of 《Underworld Connections》 and 《Whip of Erebos》 (also having two black mana symbols in their mana costs), it became very clear that working towards growing your devotion to a specific color while also playing good cards was a perfectly achievable task.

The main game plan of the deck was to play strong removal and discard to slow down your opponent, force them to anwser some of your creatures (that were also capable to get away with the game if left unchecked), and grind while also putting permanents in play, setting up the perfect scenario for your “Grays” to come down and create massive life swings. Whether or not this potent strategy can be replicated in the new Standard format is something that probably tons of magic players and deckbuilders will investigate.

Pauper Influence

Even though 《Gray Merchant of Asphodel》 has been printed as an uncommon in Theros Beyond Death, it was originaly released as a common back in the day, and as with any other common card that seems to have potential, its power was put to the test in the Pauper format. It was no surprise that it proved to be efficient there as well:

Mono Black Control was already a solid choice in Pauper, and our five drop arrived to only improve it and take it to another level. In conjuntion with other tools like 《Chittering Rats》 and 《Cuombajj Witches》 (cards that this strategy was already playing anyway and count for your black devotion), good removal spells, discards and card draw, this deck functions in a very similar way the Standard deck does, trying to decrease the pace of the game, gaining card advantage, and eventually winning with some huges devotion life drains.

Mono Black Devotion

Now that we are aware of how this powerfull five drop has been used with success in recent past, the obvious place for a starting decklist would be Mono Black Devotion. If you are going to build one of this decks, I think you need to maximize the impact that your 《Gray Merchant of Asphodel》 will have in the game when they enter the battlefield, essencially making them your best card, the reason why you are going all in with devotion in the first place:

This list would be a decent starting point to explore how best to exploit the mechanic. We are trying to put as many black mana symbols into play as possible to enable our finisher, while also having a coherent midrange value gameplan.

Probably the most notable interaction from this list, would be having at least a 《Witch’s Oven》 in play with a 《Nightmare Shepherd》, and casting 《Gray Merchant of Asphodel》. That will ensure that we get at least an eight point life swing, since we can first drain for four, and then sacrifice “Gray” right away to trigger the Sheppard’s ability, exiling the five drop and creating a 1/1 token that will drain our opponent again (remember, creature tokens still keep their mana cost, and therefore count towards your devotion). This is indeed a very strong interaction, and we are only taking into account a scenario were we just have those two creatures out: if we get to double drain our opponent for five or six each time, I imagine it’d be extremely difficult for us to lose the game at that point.

Splash White Version

Another route we can take would be to add white to the deck to abuse other sinergies. Always when adding an extra color to a deck, it is important to evaluate if the ability to play different cards is worth the boost in power level, in contrast with the decrease in mana consistancy, especially in this specific moment in time where the Standard mana bases are not that great. With that in mind, we could explore a 《Command the Dreadhorde》 approach:

The main focus of this deck would be to trade resources aggresively from the very beggining, and try to keep our life total as high as possible, to ensure that when we hit our sixth land drop, we have enough cards in the graveyard and enough life points to use our 《Command the Dreadhorde》s for full value. Note that most of the spells in the deck give us back that life we lose as soon as they hit the table. 《Mire Triton》 acts as an early play that buys us time while also filling the graveyard. 《Woe Strider》 can sacrifice our full board to help us to find our Command in a key turn, while killing the creatures we want to re-buy to get those enter-the-battlefield triggers right away.

Imagine a scenario where you manage to revive one 《Ayara, First of Locthwain》, one 《Charming Prince》, and one 《Gray Merchant of Asphodel》 all together, paying ten points of life in the process. Only those three creatures mean your opponent losing a total of 13 life! Playing a creature deck that can focus on defense, efficient resource trading and card advantage, while having the ability to close out the game even without entering combat, is something that cannot be ignored and should be tested.